Sensory, Special Needs Catalogs

My good friend at the Dallas Morning News Mom Blog created a post today about a set of Special Needs catalogs. It got me thinking about all the catalogs I have found over the years. I haven’t posted a blog in quite some time and for that I apologize, but I hope this one will be helpful to some of you.

For those unaware, most Special Needs catalogs have whole sections of products for Sensory Integration. Everyone suffers somewhat from sensory issues, and most of us Spectrumites do quite a bit. I often dream of making a sensory ‘floor’ on a 2 or 3 story house. One for each member of the family attuned to their sensory needs.

To that end, I have decided to share my ‘stash’ of Sensory catalogs I have come across. All of them you can request catalogs from for free. There are some that will keep you on their mailing list and send you a catalog each new season. Each one you can get roughly the same products from, but each has it’s unique items you can’t find elsewhere. All links go to their Request Catalog page as they can sometimes be difficult to find, but keep in mind, most if not all have their catalogs available online as well. I just prefer copies I can take with me to write or put stickies in.

School Specialty (formerly Abilitations and Integrations) gives various options depending on what you need. I get the Special Needs catalog as well as the Sensory, Learning & Behavior Solutions catalog. My favorite product, which is from their own line, we ordered from them is their Gel-E-Seat as it’s multipurpose. It serves as a weighted lap rest, a movement seat and a fidget. After two years, including a move across country, two very rough preschoolers, it still serves it’s purpose, though has lost some gel. I would still recommend if you have a sensory room. I found it calming as a fidget, my boys used it for it’s other two purposes.

Southpaw Enterprises, similar to School Specialty creates it’s own line of products. We have yet to order anything from Southpaw, but that’s not saying a lot. We try to find things locally. However, I’m relatively confident that the wonderful therapy center we take the boys to uses their products.

Therapro, Inc while I’m not aware of their own product line, I am impressed with the items they do have. It’s all well arranged and you can find things in their catalogs that I haven’t seen in any others. I very much recommend their catalogs.

Flaghouse catalogs are the ones that Leigh was speaking about on her blog. I would recommend reading her blog for information. I have requested my catalogs from them and may update this post later.

Fun and Function found me today on Facebook. I immediately looked at their digital catalog and found an item I want. They have several types of weighted clothing, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a weighted cap. Their multisensory section while it has some large dollar signs give great ideas on how to create a soft ambient room for calming.

What I typically do is keep these around and refer to them to teachers, therapists and other professionals. I’ve given old copies away to new therapists as they often don’t have their own collection yet. You can also pretty reasonably find gifts for friends and family in them as well. You obviously need to be attuned to their sensory issues, but they make very personal gifts. Of course, they are also great to refer to if someone doesn’t understand quite what to get for you as well (only kidding!).